We called Jahim the young Pastor that I call my spiritual son, to find out how he is, we asked him to get out of the country for safety, and he ended up in Gaba with his whole family.
As you all know, a country which is in a state of war is always very frightening, you always wonder whether it will ever be safe, but Jahim returned after a few months, he left his wife with us and Gaba Community Church took care of her and the kids.
Jahim continued to ask us to return to Juba and encourage God’s servants. Earlier on this year, Pastors Chris and Moses decided to visit him and some of our friends who serve with him.
They felt that even though the situation is still tense, it is our responsibility to go and encourage our brethren. This week has been the fulfillment of the dream. Pastor Jim Birchfield from Huston Texas, Moses, Chris and myself travelled to Juba for this wonderful event.
You can imagine how many times we prayed knowing that the country is still insecure but we praise God for what He has done and for protecting us.
The conference brought together over 110 Pastors and Leaders, these were mainly from Juba and the surrounding areas. I was deeply touched when they started praying for their nation, these men and women prayed, cried and interceded for their land.
Pastor Jim and myself felt that the first and foremost need we had was to share the message of encouragement, telling our brothers and sisters that God still knows and cares for them.
Myself, I taught on the Kingdom and also talked about being a radical Christian. This was not easy because the men and women that I was talking to are the people who have experienced tough times and living by faith for the kingdom.
But I thank God that at the end of the day, these men and women of God rose up in prayer and prayed for not to be fearful but to be people who are ready to fight the works of the enemy.
I remembered Acts 4; where believers prayed and the room where they were, was shaken for the Spirit of God was there. We cannot wait to return to Juba next year and our dream is that one day Gaba Community Church will plant a church in the center of Juba.
The second day of our trip was for exposure, I wanted Pastor Jim to meet some of the leaders and also to see the city, but I never expected what we experienced that day. We met two different men with amazing testimonies on what God can do, both of these men have got a ministry that plants churches, they shared on the work they are doing in Darfur.
That very morning, Pastor Thomas and Tutu were rushing to the airport to receive two of their colleagues that had been imprisoned in Khartoum for almost a year because of their faith in God.
These people were found preaching in the church; which became an issue and they ended up in prison. That morning they were released and were flying back to Juba to meet their families. “That was amazing”!
Our trip ended up with a visit to the largest Pentecostal church in Sudan, we met the senior Pastor and regional overseer of that denomination. It was a beautiful time to be informed of God’s work that this church is doing throughout South Sudan, but suddenly to know that some of the churches in Sudan were undergoing persecution and some of their Bible Colleges were closed down by Islam.
As you can tell, this trip was a blessing to us who went.